National Economist Consultant - Support to Assessment of the Social and Economic Benefits of Social Contracting

Background

UNDP is the UN's global development network advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is a founding co-sponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development leverages the organization’s core strengths and mandates in human development, governance and capacity development to complement the efforts of specialist health-focused UN agencies.Following UNDP’s role to ensure sustainable financing for HIV and health and in-line with the 2016 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS[1], it is important that nations invest in NGO social contracting[2] as a key element of sustainable financing. The need for social contracting follows the shift of international funding priorities in the national responses to HIV[3], TB and co-morbidities. Most countries in the Eastern and Central Asia (EECA) region depend on external funding especially for prevention services[4]. The reduction in external funds would mean decreased investments in prevention among KPs and vulnerable populations. In its role to ensure inclusion of key populations[6] and other excluded groups, UNDP also advocates for social contracting as a means of “leaving no one behind”. Most projects that address key populations are implemented by NGO’s, which are externally funded. Social contracting will ensure that social services for key populations with a strong focus on vulnerable women and persons with disabilities are to a large extent sustained regardless of reduced or stopped international funding.To strengthen national responses to delivery of social services, NGO social contracting is an efficient method of service delivery while leaving no one behind and ensuring continued service provision. In order to support and encourage further investments by governments in development of social contracting mechanisms, it will be important to further demonstrate the social and economic benefits of such an approach in relation to ensuring more sustainable services. This is especially compelling argument even more so now amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is putting a lot of pressure on social systems and relevant resources.

In light of the above, UNDP has hired an International Consultant to lead on piloting of the SROI in social contracting methodology in up to 2 countries across 3 regions (EECA, Arab States and Africa). To support this work, UNDP is looking to hire a National Economist Consultant responsible to ensure that the initiative is fully tailored to the needs and context of the country, with a specific focus on work-oriented activities for supporting persons with disabilities. The exercise is to further advocate for strengthened social contracting mechanisms by demonstrating the social and economic benefits of social contracting to countries. The proposed approach towards assessing the social and economic benefits of social contracting is that of assessing the “Social Returns on Investments” (SROI) of interventions implemented by UNDP CO in North Macedonia related to support to access to labour markets for persons with disabilities.

UNDP supports interventions towards moving from the medical approach to active participation of persons with disabilities in the society, including through inclusive education processes and offering a new way to address the challenges towards employment on the open labour market. Based on the blueprint designed by UNDP for the new work-oriented support service in the country for persons with disabilities, approved by the MLSP, two mobile teams will continue with assessments of persons abilities and interest to work, looking behind the initial medical assessments. The first ever Inclusive Training Center in the country was opened in 2019, with a mission to support work-oriented training to persons with disabilities and partial qualifications to ease the path toward employment for many inactive citizens who are currently unable to practice their right for employment, will continue providing the service in the whole Strumica region. The Reha center’s inclusive character, enables and supports every interested person to learn new set of skills in the area of agriculture. On another hand, the mobile Reha team is here to support trainees further in the process, by matching them with the employers but also by offering job assistance according their individual needs. The mobile team will be providing relevant information to the team of International and National consultant engaged under this assignment.

Social return on investment is a concept of accounting for value created, which includes not only individual profit, but also the benefits for the broader public in the social, economic and environmental sphere. In order to ensure alignment with global discussions and processes, outcomes of the pilots will use the lessons learnt from piloting to feed into a global guidance document around conducting SROI in the context of sustainable financing of health responses.

The next pilot exercise in the selected country will look to:-    To draw some parallels between applying the SROI to social services, more specifically work occupation and support to employment to people with disabilities-related services delivered through social contracting in the country with other health and social protection areas;-    To capture a full spectrum of direct and indirect benefits of the services delivered through social contracting and beyond medical approach for people with disabilities (e.g. benefits to the health of beneficiaries – mental and physical, reducing the possibility of risky behaviors – further benefits in terms of improving beneficiaries’ nutrition status, access to social protection etc.) and-    To explore the possibilities of considering inclusion of more stakeholders involved in social contracting and service delivery such as representatives of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, municipalities, private sector, training providers and other health/social  care workers.

[1] https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2016-political-declaration-HIV-AIDS_en.pdf

[2] NGO Social contracting is understood as public financing of CSO service provision in national HIV responses for the purposes of this document

[3] The Global Fund Sustainability, Transition and Co-financing Policy

[4] Article: Global Health: Science and Practice – The Challenges of transition from donor-funded programs: Results from a theory-driven multi-country comparative case study of programs in EECA supported by the Global Fund

[5] https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/miles-to-go_en.pdf

[6] UNAIDS considers gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers and their clients, transgender people, people who inject drugs and prisoners and other incarcerated people as the main key population groups. These populations often suffer from punitive laws or stigmatizing policies, and they are among the most likely to be exposed to HIV. Their engagement is critical to a successful HIV response everywhere—they are key to the epidemic and key to the response (UNAIDS Terminology Guidelines, 2015, https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2015_terminology_guidelines_en.pdf).

[1] WHO report - http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/347976/20170828-h0930-SROI-report-final-web.pdf?ua=1

[7] Krlev G, Münscher R, Mülbert K. Social return on investment (SROI): state-of-the-art and perspectives. Heidelberg: Centre for Social Investment of Heidelberg University; 2013 (https:// www.csi.uni-heidelberg.de/downloads/CSI_SROI_Meta_Analysis_2013.pdf, accessed 31 July 2017).

[8] Hujo K, Braumann H, Esquivel V, van Griethuysen P, Krause D, Utting P, et al. Policy innovations for transformative change : implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development; 2016 (http://www.unrisd. org/80256B42004CCC77/(httpInfoFiles)/2D9B6E61A43A7E87C125804F003285F5/$file/ Flagship2016_FullReport.pdf, accessed 31 July 2017

Duties and Responsibilities

The National Economist consultancy will build on UNDP’s work over the last 3.5 years on supporting NGO social contracting mechanisms. Background documents include:

-    recent SROI of HIV social contracting pilots in 3 countries that led to the development of EECA Policy Brief on HIV social contracting;-    legal, regulatory and policy frameworks reviews of NGO social contracting frameworks in 10 countries of the EECA region that led to the developed NGO social contracting Factsheets;-    an NGO social contracting Guidance note with documented key enabling factors for countries and NGOs in transitioning to more sustainable domestic financing mixes.

The national consultant will support use of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework as the basis for the work focusing on both the efficiency of investment but also accounting for externalities and how the investments advance public good.

The SROI method portrays the relationship between a ‘social investment’ and its social benefits by translating certain aspects of social value into financial values, which result in a SROI coefficient[7]. SROI analysis is mostly expressed in monetary terms as a ratio between benefit value and initial investment. The monetary terms used do not express an actual financial return but should be regarded as a way to express a so-called currency of value[8]. In the context of SROI of social contracting, the analysis should capture the “social value created” when the governments invest by financing civil society organizations to provide essential services.

Scope of work:

•    Desk review of available information on current NGO social contracting mechanisms for relevant services - work orientation and support to employment for persons with disabilities, in the country and fill potential gaps through additional research;•    Propose any relevant changes to tailored SROI methodology to fit the context of the country;•    Assist with organizing national SROI stakeholder meeting including with list of key multisectoral participants, agenda, concept note etc;•    Assist with gathering and analyzing relevant information and data from national partners to conduct a comprehensive SROI assessment;•    Deliver webinar presenting the work to a broad scope of relevant national partners and stakeholders.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

The consultant is expected to deliver outputs within prescribed timelines

DURATION OF THE WORK:•    The consultancy will start upon signature of both parties and is expected to last for 25 days over a period of 8-9 weeks.

DUTY STATION:•    This is a home-based assignment

Travel

•    No travel is envisaged to deliver this work. If need arises, travel will be arranged according to the UNDP travel policy.Institutional Arrangements:•    The Consultant will be home based;•    The Consultant will work closely on a daily basis with the International Lead consultant and Regional HHD Programme Specialist and report to the Regional Team lead.•    The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;•    The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop•    Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring that they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org –•    Statement of Good health Is required for the selected consultant.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

•    Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;•    Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;•    Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;•    Treats all people fairly without favoritism;•    Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional competencies:

•    Commitment to the principles set forth in the UNCRPD;•    Very good understanding of the legal and economic aspects of social protection in the country;•    Familiarity with national healthcare systems and legal, social and economic aspects of financing of social services;•    Familiarity with the social determinants of health and health inequities;•    Excellent organizational skills, ability to work independently, strict adherence to completing assigned tasks in a timely manner;•    Quality-oriented professional, constructive approach to obstacles and delays in planned performance;•    Excellent research and drafting skills;•    Excellent communication and presentation skills, oral and written;•    Advanced user of virtual communication tools.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualification:•    An advanced degree (masters or higher) in social protection, economics, public health or other relevant field.

Experience•    Five or more years of relevant experience in the field of social, economics and/or public health assessments;•    Extensive experience with developing and presenting flagship knowledge products such as publications, reports in the fields of social protection;•    Experience with conducting social, economic, return on investments (ROI) or other relevant economic assessments in the context of health and/or social protection;•    Experience with organizing multi-stakeholder workshops, meetings and trainings

Language Requirements•    Fluency and ability to communicate and write complex research in local language and English.

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

Interested offerors are invited to submit the following documents/information to be considered:1.    Offeror’s letter, as per the following form LINK

2.    Most updated CV with focus on required qualification as well as the contact details of at least three (3) professional references;

3.    Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment

4.    List of relevant assignment as per the section criteria

5.    Financial Proposal The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of lumpsum calculated per deliverables as listed under the Expected Outputs and Deliverables section.

Failure to submit complete set of all required documents will result in disqualification from the process.Payments will be made only upon confirmation from UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.

APPLICATION PROCEDUREStep 11. Click on the "Apply now" button2. Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in or paste your short Resume into the last box.3. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed in the “Documents to submit section” above.The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of the application.Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.

If the deliverables are not produced and delivered by the consultant to the satisfaction of UNDP as approved by the responsible Portfolio Manager, no payment will be made even if the consultant has invested man/days to produce and deliver such deliverables.